Tornado Warnings/Sirens

[TimeForGuinness]

AW, just because it seems as if your area is clueless on when to use the sirens doesn't mean they don't work. Yesterday, when a tornado warning was in place for our area & they saw the possiblity a tornado might have occurred the sirens sounded. It rained like hell & got very windy but no tornado happened, are you saying in that case the sirens are being used improperly?

I'll stand by my opinion that sirens mean a tornado is POSSIBLE, it doesn't even have to mean that the weather is awful. If the weather has the potential to spawn a tornado, sound the siren...if I'm at home the inconvienence of having to go downstairs isn't that big of an issue.

Yeah. I am of the opinion that with how specialized and accurate forecasting is, there's no need to be blowing sirens that are less than a mile or two from where a tornado is predicted/thought to be. And, people in the path of a tornado outght to be given a heads up as well with a different pattern/alarm. That's who, imo, need to be alerted via a tornado siren.

And...the siren should be different for people who are immediately impacted and those who are simply in the path. Maybe like if one of those hooks that meteorologists love to point out as a main cause of tornadoes forms, then immediately signal a tornado in that immediate area and the town directly in it's path, let's say up to 3 or 4 miles. Then, for towns 5-10 miles ahead in the path, not 1 county over, not 5 miles behind, sound a different alarm....maybe 2 quick beebs that repeats for 30 seconds over the siren... Then, for towns 10-20 miles ahead directly in the path, maybe give 3 quick blasts over the the siren.

I think you're misrepresenting the accuracy and resolution that meteorologists have with tornado prediction. Plus, not everyone is in their house...so only giving them a few minutes to find adequate shelter is a bit unreasonable.

[cardinalkarp]

Yeah. I am of the opinion that with how specialized and accurate forecasting is, there's no need to be blowing sirens that are less than a mile or two from where a tornado is predicted/thought to be.

Lol, the meteorologists in your area must be much better than ours because from what I can tell the guys around here can't predict weather for [expletive].

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I think you're misrepresenting the accuracy and resolution that meteorologists have with tornado prediction.

No. I'm really not. Have you seen how precise they are? They're pinpointing exactly where the hooks (or whatever they're called) that cause tornadoes are on radar..which is based on real world coordinates (ie, they know what intersection a hook is at). Obviously it’s moving, but they’re not just guessing that a tornado is brewing in St. Louis County and issuing a warning based on that. They know much more accurately where the severe weather is.

Plus, not everyone is in their house...so only giving them a few minutes to find adequate shelter is a bit unreasonable.

First of all, 10-20 miles is more than a few minutes. Second, if you’re trying to give people out on the river time to get shelter, that's like a 30 minute prep time. If you do that with a tornado siren, then 99.99% of the time someone hears it, they’re not going to experience a tornado. Maybe it should be a storm siren in that case so people don’t just blow it off when they hear it. Then, of course, you don’t have a tornado siren anymore.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Yeah. I am of the opinion that with how specialized and accurate forecasting is, there's no need to be blowing sirens that are less than a mile or two from where a tornado is predicted/thought to be.

Lol, the meteorologists in your area must be much better than ours because from what I can tell the guys around here can't predict weather for [expletive].

No, they really can zoom in and tell where there is rotation and what not. That's what they're looking for. At least that's what they say. Maybe they are full of [expletive], but if that is the case, I wonder why there are so many warnings anymore without sightings. I'm fairly certain they're issuing tornado warnings based on radar nowadays and they're looking for particular things...not just a lot of red.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Either way, sounding the tornado warning 15 minutes after the storm has passed is [expletive] stupid. And, as has been mentioned, the people with basements and internet and cable networks not to mention the local news aren't the ones that a tornado siren should be sounded for. Obviously if the weather is horrible, you cna find out what's going on and it's not a big deal to get in a hidey hole.

Really, as it is, the tornado siren means 'you might want to turn on the weather channel'. That's not what it should be there for, imho.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Also, I think it's inaccurate to say meteorologists can't tell where a tornado is from their computers. It is more accurate to say they can't predict with certainty where it will go, but even that I'd imagine they are getting pretty good at. How much time did Alabama have when that massive tornado hit a couple years ago?

Where's IMA at to back me up on this.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

[/youtube]

Here's an example. Look how specific they are. Talking about certain roads. Yeah, spotters saw it, of course the spotters knew wehre to look though.

[TimeForGuinness]

I think you're misrepresenting the accuracy and resolution that meteorologists have with tornado prediction.

No. I'm really not. Have you seen how precise they are? They're pinpointing exactly where the hooks (or whatever they're called) that cause tornadoes are on radar..which is based on real world coordinates (ie, they know what intersection a hook is at). Obviously it’s moving, but they’re not just guessing that a tornado is brewing in St. Louis County and issuing a warning based on that. They know much more accurately where the severe weather is.

Plus, not everyone is in their house...so only giving them a few minutes to find adequate shelter is a bit unreasonable.

First of all, 10-20 miles is more than a few minutes. Second, if you’re trying to give people out on the river time to get shelter, that's like a 30 minute prep time. If you do that with a tornado siren, then 99.99% of the time someone hears it, they’re not going to experience a tornado. Maybe it should be a storm siren in that case so people don’t just blow it off when they hear it. Then, of course, you don’t have a tornado siren anymore.

No. They might be able to identify the most likely place where a tornado might occur given the current state of the storm, but conditions are dynamic. Just because there is severe weather in a certain area does not rule out the possibility of severe weather occurring in a different area, or even behind the initial storm front (given similar conditions where severe weather can generate). Hence, they warn the whole area where the conditions allow the possibility of severe storms to generate because they can't predict down to a street corner when/where things will get really nasty. They may be able to pinpoint where that current "hook" was generated, but they can't predict if/when that tornado will touch down, or if/when/where the next "hook" will be generated.

Also, sounding different alarms is just going to confuse people.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Then you no longer have a tornado siren, you have a storm siren. What are people supposed to do during a storm siren? Because, for those that aren't quite priveleged enough to have a basement or storm cellar the options are to go somewhere else. I guess they should plan on doing that, what, a couple times a month on a what will be a probably less than 1% chance that those actions prove life-saving?

Did you watch the video I posted? Those guys were pinpointing it. They were predicting where it would go. They were predicting which places wouldn't get it and would only get hail. Eitehr they are the worst meteorologists ever just out spewing malarkey or the paths are predicted.

If you are saying they should sound the sirens when there is simply a watch, they don't do that, and rightfully so, imo.

I spoke with the emergency manager in Little Rock and he said that the NWS calls 911 and informs them of a tornado warning in Little Rock. That's when they blow the sirens. 56 of them. The guy was nice and said that no matter where the tornado is (eg, on the very east side of town) they blow all the sirens (even those 20 miles away on the west side) for a certain period of time. That's fine and all, but it explains why people don't treat them seriously. A tornado that's heading northeast has 30 someodd thousand miles to travel as well as multiple oceans to cross before getting back to the west side of town. Not likely.

Also, I called the NWS because now I'm on a mission. Those meteorologist issuing tornado warnings are doing it via radar and atmospheric conditions, so he said they look at the 'wind energy' I don't know what that means. But, he did say they look for all the conditions to be there, then they look for those specific hooks or something like it. When they see that they issue a warning. In other words, they know where it is.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

To be honest, after talking to the people involved, I really don't care. They're just trying to do their job. I didn't really complain because they addressed the inefficiencies and problems before I did. Just some good ole boys trying to do their jobs and keep everyone safe.

Though, I'd still argue that they could do it a lot more effectively.

You could tell their answers were guarded until they found out I was just looking for personal information. I guess they get a lot of complaints and negative coverage.